"Thank You Farmer!"

Have you seen "Barnyard" the movie? If not, it's pretty funny and kid friendly. Anyone who knows me, or my siblings, knows that we can't ever have a conversation without a movie quotation. We could probably have an entire conversation with just movie quotations. I used to think this was weird until I got married. Maybe, as a couple, we quote movies because I quoted them before we were married. Anyway, rambling aside, "Thank you farmer!" is a "Barnyard" quote and something Andy and I often exchange this time of year. It's garden time and the work has begun. Funny thing about our garden, when we first got married we couldn't tell weeds from plants and hated pulling them. 12 years later my husband's #1 stress relieving activity is to pull weeds. Where and how the transition happened I don't know. Funnier still is that I learned how to home bottle and dehydrate veggies. No one would believe that a once Harvard bound wanna be with law school in her potential future would have done a 180 on life's course and is now growing food and preserving it on purpose. I guess that comes with perspective and maturity.....or something.

We are trying new things in the yard this year. Onions (spring, Colorado and yellow), spinach, Little Marvel peas and strawberries (only cuz it was free). And soon we'll be bringing back a few old faves like potatoes, carrots, Anaheim, jalapeno and green peppers, herbs, tomatoes, zucchini, spaghetti squash and most likely banana squash, only cuz marriage is about compromise. I even saved a few bucks buying some City Deals gift certificates for some local nurseries to keep our planting costs under control. Seriously Andy and I are like kids in a candy store when we go into these nurseries. It's kind of embarrassing. I am also learning to harvest our seeds to propagate things for next year. I really just want to see if I can do it.

It's funny how being self sufficient and "organic" farmers is so trendy now. We all gotta eat folks. At least if you're growing it you know where it's been and what's been on it. The state of the world is shaky on a good day, so if I can be less dependent on someone or somewhere else I am in. Don't freak out, I won't be chaining myself to a tree anytime soon, but I am aware that I only have control over a few things and I am taking it where I can get it.

When we moved the old owners of our current house left behind a sign above our door that says "Harvest the seeds of Love." That's another perfect quote for today. We have a lot to be thankful for, sometimes I forget. Thanks for the rain today Mother Nature (now just no more snow please.)